Test dream team from each nation. 1970-2020

[England First]

This should be an interesting thread. Some unbelievable players who haven’t made the cut.

also let’s decide which nation has greatest dream team. I’d go like this

1. Australia
2. West Indies
3. Pakistan
4. India
5. South Africa
6. Sri Lanka
7. England
8. New Zealand

Obviously some players played in both the 60s and 70s so I just pick players who were in there prime in the 70s. For example Garfield Sobers. He was prime in the 60s and only played a few years in the 70s so belongs to the 60s.

England
1. Geoffrey Boycott
2. Graham Gooch
3. Joe Root
4. Kevin pietersen
5. Ian Bell
6. Ben Stokes
7. Alec Stewart WK Captain
8. Andrew Flintoff
9. Graeme Swann
10. Stuart Broad
11. James Anderson
12th Man Ian Botham

India
1. Sunil Gavaskar
2. Virender Sehwag
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Virat Kohli
6. VVS Laxman
7. MS Dhoni WK Captain
8. Kapil Dev
9. Ravichandren Ashwin
10. Anil Kumble
11. Harbhajan Singh
12th man Zaheer Khan

Australia
1. Matthew Hayden
2. Justin Langer
3. Ricky Ponting
4. Steven Smith
5. Stephen Waugh
6. Allan Border Captain
7. Adam Gilchrist Wk
8. Shane Warne
9. Mitchell Johnson
10. Dennis Lillee
11. Glenn McGrath
12th man Nathan Lyon

West Indies
1. Desmond Haynes
2. Gordon Greenidge
3. Vivian Richards Captain
4. Brian Lara
5. Shiv Chanderpaul
6. Carl Hooper
7. Jeff Dujon WK
8. Malcom Marshall
9. Michael Holding
10. Joel Garner
11. Curtly Ambrose
12thman Courtney Walsh

Pakistan
1. Saeed Anwar
2. Zaheer Abbas
3. Younis Khan
4. Javed Miandad
5. Inzamam-ul-Haq
6. Imran Khan Captain
7. Wasim Bari WK
8. Wasim Akram
9. Waqar Younis
10. Yasir Shah
11. Saqlain Mushtaq
12th man Abdul Qadir

Sri Lanka
1. Sanath Jayasuriya
2. Marvan Atapattu
3. Kumar Sangakkara
4. Mahela Jayawardene
5. Aravinda De Silva
6. Angelo Matthews
7. Tillakaratne Dilshan WK
8. Arjuna Rangatunga Captain
9. Rangana Herath
10. Muttiah Muralitharan
11. Chaminda Vaas
12th man dileuwan Perera

New Zealand
1. John wright
2. Stephen Fleming
3. Kane Williamson captain
4. Martin Crowe
5. Ross Taylor
6. Richard Hadlee
7. Brendan Mccullum WK
8. Daniel Vettori
9. Tim Southee
10. Neil Wagner
11. Trent Boult
12th Chris cairns

South Africa
1. Graeme Smith Captain
2. Gary Kirsten
3. Hashim Amla
4. Jacques Kallis
5. A B De Villiers
6. Herschelle Gibbs
7. Mark Boucher WK
8. Shaun Pollock
9. Vernon Philander
10. Dale Steyn
11. Allan Donald
12th man Morne Morkel

overall Test Dream Team
1. Geoffrey Boycott
2. Sunil Gavaskar
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Steven Smith
6. Vivian Richards
7. MS Dhoni WK Captain
8. Shane Warne
9. Malcom Marshall
10. Muttiah Muralitharan
11. Glenn McGrath
12th Man Imran Khan

 

[trundler]

Australia:

Hayden
Langer
Ponting
Smith
Chappell
Border
Gilchrist
Warne
Cummins
Lillee
McGrath

England:

Boycott
Cook
Gower
Root
Pietersen
Botham
Knott
Flintoff
Willis
Underwood
Anderson

West Indies:

Greenidge
Haynes
Lara
Richards
Lloyd
Chanderpaul
Dujon
Marshall
Roberts
Garner
Ambrose

SA:

Smith
Kirsten
Amla
Kallis
De Villiers
Gibbs
De Kock
Pollock
Rabada
Steyn
Adams

Pakistan

Anwar
Azhar
Younis
Javed
Inzi
Yousuf
Imran
Latif+
Wasim
Shoaib
Saqlain

India

Gavaskar
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Kohli
Dhoni
Dev
Jadeja
Ashwin
Shami
Bumrah

NZ

Latham
Turner
Williamson
Crowe
Taylor
Watling
Cairns
Hadlee
Vettori
Bond
Wagner
Boult

SL

Jayasuria
Attapatu
Sangakkara
Jayawardena
Aravinda
Matthews
Jayawardena+
Vaas
Lakmal
Herath
Murali

 

[Dendarii]

SA:

Smith
Kirsten
Amla
Kallis
De Villiers
Gibbs
De Kock
Pollock
Rabada
Rabada
Adams

I know Rabada's good, but he's not that good...

And the obligatory spanner in the works for South Africa - if you're including players who played in 1970 then Graeme Pollock makes the South African side (he was 26 at the time, so the "prime in the 60s" argument is a little awkward for him).

 

[trundler]

I know Rabada's good, but he's not that good...

And the obligatory spanner in the works for South Africa - if you're including players who played in 1970 then Graeme Pollock makes the South African side (he was 26 at the time, so the "prime in the 60s" argument is a little awkward for him).

I just straight up picked the best post readmission SA team, really. You might be inclined to include the senior Pollocks, Procter, Richards or Lindsay etc.

 

[grecian]

Putting Joe Root at 3 seems odd to me, but hey, might as well have a go.

1. Cook
2. Boycott
3. Gower
4. Pietersen
5. Root
6. Flintoff
7. Botham
8. Knott
9. Swann
10. Broad
11. Anderson

Gone for Flintoff as the Fast Bowler to bowl in short spells, also strengthens the batting, as Swann, Broad, Anderson, Willis looks a bit crap. Thorpe and Gooch unlucky to miss out probably. Knotts average better than it looks considering it wasn't a great time to bat in England, uncovered pitches and the like, which is also why I've maybe wrongly left out Deadly, both would play in the subcontinent.

Tbf though, whichever combination you put in it might well get thrashed by other ATG's team in the end for whatever reason, England seem to eschew truly great for Very Good at bests, holes in all those records in a way. Trundler given us a chance though, by picking 12.

Glenn Turner ( in fact he only averaged 34 in 9 games in 1969, so is record is even bettter in time-frame) opens in a Kiwi all-time side for me, and most others, so definitely gets in their side as does C. Cairns. Maybe you've weakened them as England might win a game that way...

 

[Pothas]

I just straight up picked the best post readmission SA team, really. You might be inclined to include the senior Pollocks, Procter, Richards or Lindsay etc.

Donald? You just forget him or think Rabada is better already?

 

[trundler]

**** me that's blasphemous on my part. No, I think Donald is almost on par with Steyn. Forgot about Maharaj too. Almost forgot about Ambrose and Miandad too, haha.

 

[Pothas]

Putting Joe Root at 3 seems odd to me, but hey, might as well have a go.

1. Cook
2. Boycott
3. Gower
4. Pietersen
5. Root
6. Flintoff
7. Botham
8. Knott
9. Swann
10. Broad
11. Anderson

Gone for Flintoff as the Fast Bowler to bowl in short spells, also strengthens the batting, as Swann, Broad, Anderson, Willis looks a bit crap. Thorpe and Gooch unlucky to miss out probably. Knotts average better than it looks considering it wasn't a great time to bat in England, uncovered pitches and the like, which is also why I've maybe wrongly left out Deadly, both would play in the subcontinent.

Would be picking Stokes for that 6 role, just a much better bat and probably just as good as an impact bowler.

 

[grecian]

Would be picking Stokes for that 6 role, just a much better bat and probably just as good as an impact bowler.

Yeah, wouldn't object, just love Freddie me. we will possibly get into peaks as we do in these things, but Beefy '81, and Flintoff '05, just beats stokes 19 for me, but that's entirely down to the arbitrary nature of winning the Ashes. Flintoff and Botham were top class bats in those Summers.

Oh and I think Freddie is the better bowler by miles, look I know the stats don't back me up, but I just think Flintoff bowled at a time when it was hard for bowlers, see Jimmehs and Stueys averages around then ( even though they've obviously improved as bowlers), and I always wanted Flintoff to be bowled like Stokes often is, as a short sharp shock bowler, but we rarely did. Having said all that wouldn't object, and I hope Stokes does go past him and maybe Botham in time.

One-day side Stokes and Flintoff are clearly the all-rounders.

 

[zaremba]

If you're leaving either Gooch or Botham out of the England team for this era, then you should be banned from the site for life and someone should probably arrange an urgent medical intervention.

What's harder is to work out which keeper, and who backs up Botham and Anderson in your pace attack.

This team bats deep, but there's nothing wrong with that.

1. Gooch
2. Cook
3. Gower
4. Root
5. Pietersen
6. Stokes
7. Botham
8. Prior
9. Swann
10. Willis
11. Anderson

And here's a decent 2nd XI:

1. Boycott
2. Strauss
3. Bell
4. Thorpe
5. Smith
6. Stewart
7. Flintoff
8. Gough
9. Archer
10. Fraser
11. Underwood

 

[grecian]

If you're leaving either Gooch or Botham out of the England team for this era, then you should be banned from the site for life and someone should probably arrange an urgent medical intervention.

What's harder is to work out which keeper, and who backs up Botham and Anderson in your pace attack.

This team bats deep, but there's nothing wrong with that.

1. Gooch
2. Cook
3. Gower
4. Root
5. Pietersen
6. Stokes
7. Botham
8. Prior
9. Swann
10. Willis
11. Anderson

And here's a decent 2nd XI:

1. Boycott
2. Strauss
3. Bell
4. Thorpe
5. Smith
6. Stewart
7. Flintoff
8. Gough
9. Archer
10. Fraser
11. Underwood

We clearly have different recollections of gooch, yours is the one plying the greatest innings of all time against Windies, mine is the one he couldn't handle a basic medium-pacer who bowled a nagging line.

 

[zaremba]

You're right, he did play one of the greatest innings of all time against the Windies - winning a match by carrying his bat on a tricky pitch against arguably the greatest fast bowling attack of all time - but even if you stripped that out I'd have said exactly the same thing. I don't think we should strip it out though, because it actually happened, it's as much part of his legacy as struggling for a series against Alderman. Just about all players had a poor series here and there. Anyone who might compete with him for a position in this notional team certainly did. But ultimately the records show that for a period of some years, he was the finest batsman in the world, playing in a rubbish team, and opening the batting against the finest collection of opening bowlers ever to have graced the game.

 

[trundler]

Surely it's not ridiculous to prefer Boycs to Gooch.

 

[Pothas]

Archer over Broad is the ridiculous one.

 

[Pothas]

Yeah, wouldn't object, just love Freddie me. we will possibly get into peaks as we do in these things, but Beefy '81, and Flintoff '05, just beats stokes 19 for me, but that's entirely down to the arbitrary nature of winning the Ashes. Flintoff and Botham were top class bats in those Summers.

Oh and I think Freddie is the better bowler by miles, look I know the stats don't back me up, but I just think Flintoff bowled at a time when it was hard for bowlers, see Jimmehs and Stueys averages around then ( even though they've obviously improved as bowlers), and I always wanted Flintoff to be bowled like Stokes often is, as a short sharp shock bowler, but we rarely did. Having said all that wouldn't object, and I hope Stokes does go past him and maybe Botham in time.

One-day side Stokes and Flintoff are clearly the all-rounders.

Yeah he was a better bowler and certainly looked a much better one but I still think Stokes is a bit underrated as a bowler. The gap in the batting is much bigger and more important if they are at 6.

 

[zaremba]

Archer over Broad is the ridiculous one.

Forgot Broad.

 

[zaremba]

Surely it's not ridiculous to prefer Boycs to Gooch.

Eeewwwww.

 

[zaremba]

Broad gets into the 2nd XI I suppose. Might get in ahead of Fraser rather than Archer.

 

[Pothas]

Both went on rebel tours. Lets just have Trescothick.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Yeah he was a better bowler and certainly looked a much better one but I still think Stokes is a bit underrated as a bowler. The gap in the batting is much bigger and more important if they are at 6.

Think Fred was occasionally guilty of bowling too pretty a length.

Beat the bat all the time, but because he was often short of a good length didn't find the edge as much as he maybe should've.

Broad has been so much more effective since he seems to have made a conscious effort to pitch it up and risk the drive.